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Weekly Highlights 13th January 2023

Welcome to the latest edition of Purcell’s Weekly Highlights!

Purcell Drummer Shares Stage with Entertainment Greats

Year 9 drummer Jack will be performing at Variety Night Live at Aylesbury Waterside Theatre this weekend. Inspired by the legendary variety show Sunday Night at the London Palladium, this star-studded event will see an array of performers take to the stage for an incredible evening of music, comedy, circus and dance.

Tickets are available here.

Saturday 14 January – Variety Night Live
Time: 7:30pm
Venue: Aylesbury Waterside Theatre

Good luck, Jack. We hope you have a blast!

Purcell Clarinettist Performs with Eleanor Meynell

On 19th December 2022, Year 11 clarinettist Birce gave a special lunchtime recital with prize-winning pianist Eleanor Meynell. The duo played Brahms’ No.1 F minor Clarinet Sonata for a group of young children in what was a wonderful pre-Christmas treat.

Purcell Pianist Performs at Romanian Athenaeum

We were delighted to hear that on 13th December 2022, Year 8 pianist Luca gave his first recital at the Romanian Athenaeum to wonderful reception. The recital was part of the Hoinar Festival 2022 and was recorded for broadcast on the National Radio station.

Luca studies at Purcell under Florian Mitrea, who was instrumental in supporting and preparing the young pianist for this important event. Bravo, Luca!

Purcell Violinist makes New York Debut

Year 8 violinist Kutay made his New York debut during the Christmas break. Having been invited by the New York Turkish Arts Foundation as part of the Young Soloist series, Kutay gave a recital in Opera America at Marc A. Scorca Hall, accompanied by acclaimed Royal Ballet pianist Thomas Ang.

The recital was supported by the Turkish Consulate in New York, and it was so successful that the Consulate invited Kutay to return to New York for future events.

Kutay studies at Purcell under Alda Dizdari.

This is wonderful news. Congratulations, Kutay.

Concerts Week in Review

Happy New Year from the Concerts Department! We have embarked our first week of the Spring Concert Season with a Second Study Concert and four lunchtime concerts.

Well done and thank you for your outstanding performances: Celeste, Daria, Nathaniel, Patchubun, Natalie, Jack, Jacqueline, Gabriella, Ekaterina , Chonchanok, Rowena, Dmytro, Tessa, Yazdi, Reeka, April and Phoebe.

We are looking forward to our lunchtime concert at St. Peter’s St. Albans and Sixth Form Concert on next Wednesday and our first Purcell Parallels Concert from the composition department on Thursday – details of which are available below.

Video Highlight of the Week

As we hit our ‘2023’ stride, it’s exciting to look forward to all of the wonderful performance opportunities of the Spring term. We’re also enjoying looking back at the highlights of Winter 2022 – none more so than the stunning November evening when Purcell students took to the Wigmore Hall stage for a superb recital.

If you were unable to attend and haven’t yet seen the recording, then you are in for a real treat!

No fewer than 58 students applied and auditioned for the opportunity to take part in this recital. Congratulations to Phoebe (piano, Year 11), Rowena (recorder, Year 13), Ekaterina (oboe, Year 13), Francisca (violin, Year 13), Samuel (piano, Year 13), Aaron (harp, Year 11), Emma (cello, Year 13), Andrea (violin, Year 13) and Benji (piano, Year 13).

Purcell Physiotherapist in Liverpool and in Print

Purcell’s Physiotherapist Sarah Upjohn spent last weekend in Liverpool leading workshops on the ‘Wellbeing of Young Musicians’ with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and Youth Academy. As luck would have it, the workshops took place before the National Youth Orchestra’s (NYO) concert in the Liverpool Philharmonic building, which Sarah was thrilled to attend. She sends her congratulations to all Purcell NYO members who performed so brilliantly in what she has called a ‘glorious concert’, and we could not agree more!

In other news, one of the three books which Sarah contributed to during lockdown, The Clarinet – The Ultimate Companion to Clarinet Playing by Paul Harris, has been awarded ‘Educational Publication of the Year 2022’ in the recent PRESTO Music Awards.

Congratulations, Sarah!

A Child in the Striped Pyjamas Premieres

Composer and alumnus Noah Max’s debut opera, A Child in Striped Pyjamas, based on John Boyne’s bestselling novel The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas had its world premiere on 11th and 12th January 2023. It is an extraordinary achievement and all at Purcell are delighted for Noah, particularly after the long and tense negotiation process to secure rights.

Forthcoming Events

In addition to those highlighted events below, we have a new online Concerts and Events calendar which has just launched on our website here.

Wednesday 18th January 2023 – Lunchtime Concert at St Peter’s Church, St Albans
Time: 1.00 – 2.00pm
Venue: Church of St Peter, St Peter’s St, St Albans AL1 3HG, UK
Tickets: Free admission with retiring donations for Rennie Grove Hospice Care

Wednesday 18th January 2023 – Sixth Form Concert
Time: 7.30 – 8.30pm
Venue: CP Hall
Tickets: Free admission. No booking required

Thursday 19th January 2023 – Purcell Parallels I: Chamber Expressions
Time: 7.00pm pre-concert talk, followed by an evening of new music
Venue: Recital Room
Tickets: Free admission. No booking required

Purcell Parallels is a unique collaboration between The Purcell School’s composition teachers and first-study composition students. The staff-student pairs will work in parallel to write pieces for the same forces, exploring various connections. The final compositions will be programmed together in their pairs in a series of three concerts.

This is the first of the Purcell Parallels concerts, entitled ‘Chamber Expressions’, and will feature new works by Francisca (Year 13), Simon Speare, Edward (Year 12), Edward Longstaff, Joseph Howard and Oscar (Year 13), as well as preludes and encores by Ilya (Year 7) and Luca (Year 8).

Wednesday 25th January 2023 – Tasmin Little Public Masterclass
Time: 7.00 – 9.00pm
Venue: CP Hall
Tickets: Free admission. No booking required

The Purcell School masterclasses offer students the chance to play to some of the world’s most eminent musicians, performers and teachers.

Tasmin Little is a British violinist and concerto soloist, chamber musician, scholar and television producer. She received an OBE from Queen Elizabeth II for Services to Music in 2012.

This violin masterclass is open to the public.

Friday 27th January 2023 – Middle School Concert
Time: 3.00 – 4.15pm
Venue: Recital Room
Tickets: Free admission. No booking required

Saturday 28th January 2023 – Amadeus Chamber Orchestra Concert
Time: 7.30 – 9pm
Venue: Church of St Peter, St Peter’s St, St Albans AL1 3HG, UK
Tickets: Discounted admission in advance is £15 (£3 accompanied school children) online here. Booking fees apply. Admission on the door is £18; £3

The Amadeus Chamber Orchestra (the orchestra of St Albans) and Purcell soloist Chloe Jiang (piano) will perform at St Peter’s Church, St Albans.

The programme will include:
Salieri: Overture to La Grotta di Trofonio
Mozart: Piano Concerto No.23 in A
Beethoven: Symphony No.7

Monday 6th February – Cadogan Hall
Time: 7.30pm
Venue: Cadogan Hall, 5 Sloane Terrace, London SW1X 9DQ
Tickets: £20, £17.50, £15, £12.50 (Students & Under 18; £5 off) available from the venue’s website here

The Purcell School Symphony Orchestra
Marimba: Beste Gurkey
Conductor: Natalia Luis-Bassa

Programme
Gabriela Ortiz: Teenek
Séjourné: Marimba Concerto
Simon Speare: The Secret of Rain
Debussy: La Mer

Monday 6th March – The Purcell School Jazz Ensembles with special guest Derek Nash
Time: 8.00pm (doors open at 6.30pm)
Venue: Pizza Express, 10 Dean St, London W1D 3RW, UK
Tickets: £12 from venue’s box office here

Purcell’s Jazz players join forces with UK saxophone star Derek Nash for a concert of his jazz and funk influenced compositions.

Come and watch the stars of tomorrow, today!